Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Threat Perception

China's spending on domestic "security" (that is, security from the people and not security for the people) has been going up fast and is about 20% greater than defense spending:

China has substantially increased spending on domestic security, official figures show, reflecting mounting concern about threats inside its borders as President Xi Jinping moves to acquire more power and reassert the authority of the Communist Party.

Is that 20% greater than official defense spending numbers or the higher real figure (maybe 50% higher than published?)?

Although you should keep in mind that for Chinese leaders, threats are measured as they affect the Chinese Communist Party and not how they affect China. Foreign and domestic threats are all part of a continuum of threats to the party.

This is most easily seen when you consider that China's military has gotten smaller over the last few decades by shedding low tech leg infantry divisions and turning them over to the People's Armed Police and painting "police" over the "PLA" insignia. Otherwise the units are largely the same.

The Chinese surely worry about what stupid thing might spark unrest that threatens the party's monopoly of power.

Bonus video at the top link about the Beta version of Dystopian State 1.0 being built in Xinjiang.

Strategypage has a tour of China with additional information on defense spending and DS 1.0, among other things.